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SAVAHCS Targeted Outreach Successfully Houses Homeless Veterans

Veteran getting a haircut.
Special thanks to Kelsey Swarts for providing haircuts to Veterans.

By Luke Johnson, SAVAHCS Acting Public Affairs Officer

The Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS) Healthcare for Homeless Veteran Program (HCHV) held a homeless Veteran outreach event January 5-7, 2026. The surge event connected homeless Veterans to VA healthcare services, housing, and support services to help them secure permanent housing.

During the surge event, HCHV partnered with the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program and the City of Tucson for targeted outreach to homeless Veterans. On the final day of the event, HCHV offered a wide range of services and same-day housing opportunities to homeless Veterans at the HCHV Clinic located in Building 90 at the Tucson VA Medical Center. Multiple community agencies and volunteers participated, providing legal aid, transitional housing, food, clothing, haircuts, and 40 hot meals to Veterans.   

“We connected with our community partners to proactively find Veterans where they are at. We offered them same-day assistance to help transition them from unsheltered homelessness to permanent housing,” said Sharday (Shay) Bennett-Rau, a social worker with the SAVAHCS Health Care for Homeless Veteran Program.  “Our team helps homeless Veterans enroll in VA healthcare and connects them to VA services.”

The SAVAHCS homeless outreach team works with many community partners in southern Arizona to ensure that homeless Veterans have access to a variety of resources. Community partnerships helped make the surge event very successful in getting homeless Veterans off the streets.

“The surge event has been a big benefit for the VA and homeless Veterans. We are getting them rapidly off the street, sheltered, and transitioned into permanent housing. We help with medical care and provide many different services to help keep Veterans in stable housing,” said Bennett.

If you know a homeless Veteran, are an unsheltered Veteran, or are at risk of becoming homeless, please contact the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-4AID-VET ) or the SAVAHCS Homeless Veteran Program at . The Tucson VA Medical Center Homeless Veteran Clinic offers walk-in hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. The Tucson VA Medical Center operates a 24/7 emergency department.